CUSJ Peace Partners

The quest for world peace is central to CUSJ’s mission and the UU sixth principle of the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. We look upon these like-minded organizations as partners. Representatives of these organizations will be participating in the Peace workshop at our AGM in May 2018.

SCIENCE FOR PEACEis a Canadian organization of natural and social scientists, students in the humanities and liberal arts and people from the wider community. The mission of Science for Peace is to understand and act against the forces that make for militarism, environmental destruction, and social injustice.

CANADIAN PEACE INITIATIVE(CPI) is a citizen campaign to establish a federal Department of Peace within the Government of Canada. The Department of Peace would work towards building a new architecture of peace by establishing and supporting a culture of peace and assertive non-violence in Canada and the world. It is part of a growing international movement that includes citizens from some 50 countries represented in the Global Alliance for Ministries & Infrastructures of Peace. A new private member’s motion has proposed that Canada establish a Women, Peace and Security Ambassador.

The INTERNATIONAL PEACE BUREAU (IPB), founded in 1891, is the oldest global peace network, with more than 300 organizations in over 70 countries. The IPB is dedicated to the vision of a World Without War. Their main program centres on Disarmament for Sustainable Development. They follow various disarmament negotiations, within and outside the UN.

The IPB YOUTH NETWORKis a network of young people around the world committed to building a sustainable, just and peaceful world. In September 2018 the IPB Youth Network will host a World Congress on Youth and Peacebuilding in Berlin. The World Congress on Youth, Demilitarization and Transformation will be held in the fall of 2019.

The Youth4Peace Global KnowledgePortalis a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY), as part of the Working Group on Youth & Peacebuilding. The platform, launched in 2016 to promote and support the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security, is hosted by UNDP Youth-GPS. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250, the first resolution on youth, peace and security, was adopted in 2015, and emphasizes the importance of youth as agents of change in the maintenance and promotion of peace and security. The resolution highlights ‘Participation, Partnerships, Prevention, and Protection.’

The INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONSis a coalition of non-governmental organizations in one hundred countries promoting the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This landmark global agreement was adopted in New York on 7 July 2017 by 122 countries. Following a decade of advocacy by ICAN and its partners, 122 nations adopted a landmark global agreement to ban nuclear weapons, known officially as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was presented to ICAN in Oslo, Norway. Japanese Canadian Setsuko Thurlow, a Hiroshima survivor and ICAN campaigner, was instrumental in the creation of the Treaty. Setsuko lives in Toronto and is more determined than ever to persuade the Canadian government to sign the Treaty.

The WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM(WILPF), established in 1915 during the First World War, is the oldest women’s peace organization. It was established “to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to identify the causes of warand work for a permanent peaceand to unite women worldwide who oppose oppressionand exploitation.” In 2015, celebrating 100 years of advocacy and activism for peace, WILPF organised the peace summit “Women’s Power to Stop War” gathering more than 1000 peace activists from more than 80 different countries.

GREENPEACE was founded in Vancouver in 1971, when a small boat of volunteers sailed into Amchitka, an area north of Alaska where the US Government was conducting underground nuclear tests. This tradition of “bearing witness in a non-violent manner continues, and our ships are an important part of all our campaign work. We take the name of our flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, from a North American Cree Indian legend. It described a time when humanity’s greed has made the Earth sick. At that time, a tribe of people known as the Warriors of the Rainbow would rise up to defend her.” Greenpeace campaigns to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. Greenpeace Canada started a campaign to draw attention to TD Bank, the biggest investor in Kinder Morgan Canada (KML).

CODEPINK.org is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end US-funded wars and occupations, to challenge militarism globally, and to redirect our resources into health care, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities. CODEPINK has become a worldwide network of women and men committed to working for peace and social justice.

WORLDBEYONDWAR.orgis a global nonviolent movement to end all wars. Join World BEYOND War for our annual global conference in Toronto on September 21 and 22, 2018 at OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design) Learn how at #NoWar2018!

The PARLIAMENT OF WORLD RELIGIONSis celebrating its 125thAnniversary in Toronto, with participants from more than 200 diverse religious, indigenous, and secular beliefs and more than 80 nations.

Margaret Rao, CUSJ President and member of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace.